Rahul keeps nerves to win first round match

Rahul K Verma was leading 6-5 in the tiebreaker and looking to capture the next point against Akshay Chouhan to win the match when he was distracted before his service toss by a shout from the stands. Without letting his concentration waver,Rahul took his position once again and was ready to serve again. A forehand into the net by Akshay gave Rahul the much-needed point as he cruised into the second round of the boys’ under-16 category in the AITA Talent Series Manav Mangal Total Tennis Championship with a hard-fought 8-7 (7-5) win at Manav Mangal School on Monday.

Apart from Rahul,only Ramanjot Dhindsa faced a stiff resistance from his opponent. However,he kept his nerves and managed to beat Nishant Sidhu 8-7 (7-4) in the first round encounter. Sagar Bains had it easy as he entered the next round with an easy 8-2 win over Parmeet Deol while Rishabh Sharda came produced a stellar show and humbled Vatsal Chouhan 8-0 to make it to the next round. However,Calvin Golmei bowed out of the tournament following a 3-8 defeat at the hands of Devasis.

Meanwhile,in the girls’ under-16 category,Khushbeer Kaur won her first round match after easily beating Gurleen 8-1. Smera Mehta,Jashanpreet and Maansi also registered identical 8-1 victories over their respective opponents.